Earlier today, we saw Jonny Weston pushing his girlfried into porn in the About Cherry trailer, but in the first trailer for Chasing Mavericks it’s Weston who’s the wide-eyed ingenue. Weston stars as real-life surfer Jay Moriarity, whose passion for the sport drives him to try and conquer the legendarily dangerous waves at Mavericks in Northern California.

He seeks guidance from local legend Frosty Hesson (Gerard Butler), who’s initially resistant but — as it always goes in these stories — eventually relents he sees something of himself in the kid. Abigail Spencer, Elisabeth Shue, and Leven Rambin also star. Watch the trailer after the jump.

Along with Fox’s reveal of the name and release date for the fifth, mostly unwanted Die Hard movie, the studio today added a bunch of other films to the calendar for 2012 and 2013. We begin with Olivier Megaton‘s sequel to Taken. The Liam Neeson action movie is currently called Taken 2, and it will open just under a year from now, on October 5, 2012.

The following month is busy for Fox: Curtis Hanson‘s surfing dram about real-life surfer Jay Moriarty, formerly called Mavericks, will co out on October 26 2012 as Of Men and Mavericks. And Parental Guidance, starring Billy Crystal, Bette Midler, and Marisa Tomei, will open on November 21, 2012.

Then a couple dates have hit for 2013: the second Percy Jackson film, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters will now hit on March 27 2013. And the BBC co-production Walking with Dinosaurs, which brings the popular show and traveling animatronic dinosaur exhibit to screens in 3D, moves up to October 11, 2013, from December 20, 2013. [BoxOfficeMojo]

Joel Schumacher has confirmed in an interview that Halle Berry is in talks to take the lead in the tentatively titled The Hive, about “a female emergency line operator who, in trying to help a young girl, comes up against a killer from her own past.” While nothing is official at this point, the director said, he and Berry are both interested in working together and the producers of The Hive seem to be on board with hiring her.

The thriller is expected to begin shooting in February, though Schumacher has said that he may shoot another, smaller film before that. Berry will next appear in Garry Marshall’s limp-looking ensemble romcom New Year’s Eve, and is currently shooting Cloud Atlas with directors Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski, and Lana Wachowski. [Coming Soon]

After the jump, surfing biopic Mavericks gets a new title and two new stars, and 50 Cent lines up yet another acting gig.

Michael K. Williams may have missed out on the lead role of Django Unchained, but it seems there may still be room for him to appear in a different capacity. In an interview with Shadow & Act (via The Playlist), the The Wire actor confirmed that he had just barely lost the lead role to Jamie Foxx, but that director Quentin Tarantino (or “QT, as I call him”) liked Williams enough to consider creating a new role just for him. “It’s not official yet but there’s a lot of talk that there may be a role coming back ’round my way,'” he told the site. “His people and my people have been in discussions in regards to a role that he is creating for me.”

The Playlist points out that the only major black role still uncast is that of Bartholemew, but that the hulking, silent bodyguard probably wouldn’t be an ideal fit for Williams. However, it’s possible that the character could be rewritten to better suit Williams, or that Tarantino will add a new character altogether.

After the jump, new gigs for Charlize Theron, Paula Patton, and Leven Rambin.

Almost a year ago we heard that Curtis Hanson (The River Wild, L.A. Confidential) would make a film about the late surfer Jay Moriarty, who rode massive Northern California wave breaks called ‘mavericks,’ but died at 22 in a diving accident.

When we first reported on the film Sean Penn was rumored; the role he was very vaguely linked to is Rick ‘Frosty’ Hesson, the young surfer’s friend and mentor. Now Gerard Butler will play that role instead. Read More »